Greatest Derbyshire team chosen

As part of their 150th anniversary celebrations, the club's  supporters have voted for their greatest-ever eleven, within selected parameters. Those in the mix had to have played for at least five seasons, while there was a pre-determined balance to the side.

The final side selected read:

Kim Barnett
Peter Bowler
John Morris
Wayne Madsen
Peter Kirsten
Dominic Cork
Geoff Miller
Bob Taylor
Albert Rhodes
Les Jackson
Mike Hendrick

I agreed with most of that side, but would have made several changes. The problem with such ideas, of course, is that more recent players will always be picked. I would argue that a batsman with an average of thirty on uncovered wickets was every bit as good as one who averaged forty in more favourable conditions.  Similarly, one assumes that this is for four-day cricket and there is no prior knowledge of the wicket on which it will be played. Yes, the game was different pre-war, but one can only be a stand-out in the conditions of the time.

For me, Arnold Hamer would have been an opener. I didn't see him, but those whose judgement I respect deem him a wonderful batsman. Had he stayed with his native Yorkshire he may have gained international honours, but for ten years or more he led, some might say carried, the Derbyshire batting, often with little support. He was a big chap and wasn't a great fielder, but you judge people by the times in which they played and Arnold must have been a very fine batsman. So too Denis Smith, but he had more support in the batting side of the 1930s, which often cobbled together enough runs to bowl at.

Hamer and Barnett in full flow would be worth the admission fee alone and in dropping Peter Bowler I mean no disrespect to a fine cricketer whose contribution to the club I enjoyed.

I would have liked to have included Stan Worthington too, but can't fault the engine room of the batting, while George Pope would have been a strong candidate for seam bowling all-rounder, though Dominic Cork a logical, match-winning winner. Both had the winning mentality and I am happy to go with our T20 coach.

Geoff Miller was a very fine player and in his category was always the likely winner, though Les Townsend should have been in that section. 11871 runs and 832 wickets for Geoff Miller, with 32 five-wicket hauls. Townsend had 19555 runs at a higher average, plus 1088 wickets at a lower one, with 51 five-wicket hauls. He also made 22 centuries, while Geoff managed just the two. Reports suggest Les a ferocious hitter of spin bowling, with Tommy Mitchell recounting how he bowled to him in the nets and 'then ran away'!

As for the spinner, I would have loved to include Edwin Smith, but had to go with Tommy Mitchell. A mercurial bowler, very much his own man, he won an extraordinary number of matches throughout the championship decade. On the bad days, like most of his kind, he could go around the park, but on the good ones, when the ball was coming out as he wanted, he was by all accounts extraordinary.

118 five-wicket hauls, he took. One hundred and eighteen, that in a career of only twelve seasons. Let that sink in a little. Rhodes had 29, Edwin Smith had 51, and THEY were both outstanding bowlers.

Finally, the seam bowlers. Les Jackson was always going to be one, legend as he is, but my partner for him, dropping the father and bringing in the son, was Harold Rhodes. Mike Hendrick was an outstanding bowler, but Rhodes had pace, bounce and movement. He was just short of a thousand wickets for the county when he retired from first-class cricket at the age of just 33, accepting more lucrative employment elsewhere. Had he continued, he might have challenged the county record of Les Jackson, but figures never mattered to Harold

So my final eleven, for what it is worth:

Kim Barnett
Arnold Hamer
John Morris
Wayne Madsen
Peter Kirsten
Dominic Cork
Les Townsend (in correct category) or Geoff Miller
Bob Taylor
Tommy Mitchell
Les Jackson
Harold Rhodes

I can't complain though. Of the side chosen by supporters, the only one I didn't see was 'Dusty' Rhodes. I saw Les Jackson in a couple of charity matches and he was still pitching it on a line and length, several years after he retired.

When you are great, you are always great.

This side is so good, I would even watch them in a hundred-ball competition. But indulge me and let me enjoy five days of cricketing heaven.